Takako
Segawa has been working with Maxine since 2004 as a visiting principle
performer, researcher, and rehearsal assistant in Maxine’s ongoing memory and cycles projects,
performing and creating in Canada, Greece, Singapore, Japan, and
Indonesia. In 2008 the Toronto Globe&Mail called Maxine's solowork Moments in Time, danced by Takako, “reaching a new state of
mind”. Krima! also features Takako in its final moments.
Born
in Kochi in 1976 and growing up
with a traditional background, Takako trained in both traditional arts
and contemporary Japanese movement styles throughout her youth. She
received the All Japan Kobe Dance Festival Award in 1994 and 1998. She
graduated from Nippon Sports Science University in Tokyo in 1998 and
from the London Contemporary Dance School in 1998-1999. She has worked
with companies in England, Italy and Japan. From 2001-06 Takako danced
as guest artist for the leading companies in Athens-Greece including
performances in their annual seasons and at the 1st International
Athens Dance Festival, the Kalamata International Dance Festival, the
Mediterranean Dance Festival, and in annual seasons in Athens. As a
soloist she was recognized at the Stuttgart International Solo Dance
Festival in 2005. In Canada, as well as working with Maxine, she
has been a visiting artist with , with Hiroshi
Miyamoto touring their work to Tokyo, Kochi, and Hokaido, Japan, with
Xing Ballet Theatre, Cube3, Buyaku (choreographer Keiko Ninomiya), and
several independent performance projects. In Japan she has produced
Contemporary Dance Art vol.1, 2, 3 in Kochi and Fukuoka. She has
performed with “Rachel dance art museum”. and the Asahi Arts Square
Festival (Tokyo), choreographed for the Kobe Ballet Studio and produced
work funded by the Ministry of Culture performing in Kochi, Tokyo and
Hokaido. MOswt recetnly she was guest artist at high schools in Kochi, Kobe, Osakas, Tokyo's Nippon Sports Science University, the Aamori contemporary art centre, and Osaka's Sphanic arts dance theater.
Takako says about working with Maxine:
“Maxine’s process and understanding of movement is at a high
theoretical level that also is profoundly human. Her methods first
intrigued me and now have actually changed the way that I perform. She
has managed to develop a practice that integrates both intuition and
intelligence: Content & meaning translated into impulse, control of
physical energy, and three-dimensional space. The result is dance that
is more detailed, more grounded, more substantial, more sensual, more
human. She has led me to dance right to my nerve endings –
exhilarating! “ Maxine says about Takako: " We have both
grown from the years that we have shared our artistic journey together
to the point that now Takako's dancing of my choreography embodies the
clarity and simplicity that we both crave...very exciting and
heart-warming."
